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Grand Slam Champion
A Grand Slam Champion in professional wrestling is a distinction made to a professional wrestler who has won all of the major titles in a promotion. The Grand Slam typically consists of four titles, mirroring the grand slams found in golf and tennis. The four titles typically feature three tiers of heavyweight belts and a set of tag team belts. Because of this, a Grand Slam Champion is necessarily a Triple Crown Champion, which consists of the top two tiers of heavyweight belts and the tag team belts. World Wrestling Federation / Entertainment In the World Wrestling Federation (now known as "World Wrestling Entertainment") the term "Grand Slam Champion" was originally used by Shawn Michaels to describe himself upon winning the WWF Championship, the WWF Intercontinental Championship, the WWF European Championship and the WWF Tag Team Championship. As of 2007, only four wrestlers have held all four of those titles. As the European Championship was discontinued on July 22, 2002, the number of future potential Grand Slam Champions is limited to wrestlers who have already held the European Championship (see list of WWE European Champions). In 2006, World Wrestling Entertainment stated, "Michaels was the first-ever Grand Slam Champion, capturing the European Championship once, the World Tag Team Championship four times, the Intercontinental Championship three times and the WWE and World Heavyweight Championships a total of four times." This indicates that WWE considers the World Heavyweight Championship to be an acceptable substitute for the WWF Championship (renamed the WWE Championship in 2002) in completing the Grand Slam. No wrestlers have completed the Grand Slam under this revised definition. In April 2006, Kurt Angle was described as a "former Grand Slam Champion" on WWE.com, indicating that WWE considers the WWE Tag Team Championship to be an acceptable substitute for the World Tag Team Championship. Including Angle, two wrestlers have completed the Grand Slam under this revised definition. Following WrestleMania 31 in 2015, WWE established a new version of the Grand Slam - consisting of the four currently active titles in WWE, which are the WWE World Heavyweight, Intercontinental, United States, and WWE Tag Team Championships. Eight wrestlers have been recognized as Grand Slam winners under these new parameters (including four who were already recognized as Grand Slam winners under the original guidelines). With the brand extension re-established, WWE indicated in 2017 that the WWE Universal Championship and the SmackDown Tag Team Championship are acceptable substitutes for their counterpart titles as part of the Grand Slam. As of August 20 2017, 16 wrestlers have been recognized as WWE Grand Slam winners under its various incarnations. WWF/E Grand Slam Champions The title wins stated below are the respective wrestlers' first wins of each title. In most cases, it is not the only time the wrestler has won that title. Dates in italics indicate that the wrestler has won that title, but does not contribute to their Grand Slam because they had already won a title at that level. Dates in bold represent the title which established the wrestler as a Grand Slam champion. Original format New format *Won Grand Slam under the original definition *Won Grand Slam with an alternate title *Won title as a member of the RAW brand *Won title as a member of the SmackDown! brand *Won title as a member of the ECW brand :White indicates title was won before brand extension Potential champions The following active (or semi-active) WWE wrestlers are potential Grand Slam Champions, all having previously held three major titles: *Goldust, Kofi Kingston, Zack Ryder, Shelton Benjamin require an WWE World Heavyweight Championship or a WWE Universal Championship reign to complete the Grand Slam. *John Cena, Seth Rollins, Sheamus, Roman Reigns require an Intercontinental Championship reign to complete the Grand Slam. *Randy Orton requires a WWE United States Championship reign to complete the Grand Slam. * Kevin Owens requires a WWE Raw Tag Team Championship reign or a WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship reign to complete the Grand Slam. Total Nonstop Action Wrestling The first Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) Grand Slam champion was crowned on March 15, 2009 at TNA's Destination X pay-per-view event. At said event, then three-time TNA Triple Crown champion A.J. Styles defeated Booker T for the TNA Legends Championship. On the March 19 episode of TNA's primary television program, TNA Impact!, Impact! TV announcer Mike Tenay stated that Styles had become the first TNA Grand Slam champion by capturing the World Heavyweight (NWA or TNA), World Tag Team (NWA or TNA), TNA X Division, and TNA Legends/Global/Television Championships. List of TNA Grand Slam Champions The following is a list of TNA Grand Slam Champions with dates indicating when the wrestler first won the respective championship. Under TNA's definition of the Grand Slam Championship, wrestlers are eligible to be a multiple Grand Slam champion each time they complete a new circuit. Thus far, only A.J. Styles has won the Grand Slam on more than one occasion, as well as being the only one to have held every eligible championship to qualify for the Grand Slam. Current TNA wrestlers who are one title away from Grand Slam status include: *Robbie E requires the TNA World Heavyweight Championship (as the NWA World Heavyweight Championship is no longer under TNA control). *James Storm requires the X Division Championship. *Lashley requires the TNA Tag Team Championship. Florida Championship Wrestling List of FCW Grand Slam Champions In FCW, a Grand Slam Champion is a wrestler who has won every championship that was available in FCW. All FCW titles were retired when FCW changed its name to NXT Wrestling. Category:Grand Slam championships